Fraser Institute News Release: Sweden provides lessons on how to increase accessibility for low- and middle-income parents to more school choice

TORONTO, ON--(Marketwired - November 15, 2016) - Amid continued calls in some provinces to reduce or even eliminate government funding of independent schools, policymakers could look to Sweden and its full government funding model that increases school choice for parents, particularly modest-income families, finds a new study by the Fraser Institute, an independent, non-partisan Canadian public policy think-tank.

"Parents across Canada increasingly want greater choice when it comes to the education of their children, but religious and alternative independent schools can be financially out of reach for low- and middle-income families," said Deani Van Pelt, director of the Barbara Mitchell Centre for Improvement in Education at the Fraser Institute.

It finds as full government funding was extended to independent schools in Sweden, enrolment in independent schools increased from less than two per cent of total enrolment in 1992 to more than 14 per cent in 2014 in elementary grades, and more than 25 per cent in upper-secondary grades.

Crucially -- and quite distinctly from Canada -- for-profit and non-profit schools in Sweden are equally eligible for full government funding.

In fact, for-profit independent schools have come to dominate independent school enrolment in Sweden: 64 per cent of elementary and lower-secondary independent school students attend a for-profit independent school while 85 per cent of upper-secondary independent school students attend for-profit schools.

In Canada, for-profit schools are not eligible for government funding. Partial funding is provided to non-profit independent schools who meet eligibility requirements in five provinces: British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Quebec.

Like Sweden, there is evidence that the partial government funding in those five provinces have made independent schools more accessible for modest-income families. For example, between 2000-01 and 2012-13, public school enrolments declined by 8.1 per cent in the five provinces that provide partial funding to independent schools, while enrolment at independent schools increased by 20.5 per cent.

"But access to that expanded school choice should not be limited to families of means. Sweden has overcome this financial barrier for modest-income families by providing more comparable levels of funding for both independent and public schools."

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Deani Van PeltDirector of the Barbara Mitchell Centre for Improvement in EducationFraser Institute

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The Fraser Institute is an independent Canadian public policy research and educational organization with offices in Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto, and Montreal and ties to a global network of think-tanks in 87 countries. Its mission is to improve the quality of life for Canadians, their families and future generations by studying, measuring and broadly communicating the effects of government policies, entrepreneurship and choice on their well-being. To protect the Institute's independence, it does not accept grants from governments or contracts for research. Visit www.fraserinstitute.org.